Singers LeAnn Rimes and Adam Lambert are just a few of the major celebrities giving bullies the middle finger in a new anti-bullying campaign. The New F Word, launching today, is a movement designed to empower youth by encouraging “use of the word ‘Friend’ to project inner strength and confidence.”

The meaning behind The New F Word photos refers to an individual’s awareness of how they feel. When a person is called a FREAK they shut down inside, letting the bullying continue. We want the individual to have an empowered inner monologue of “F U, I am actually really FABULOUS and do not need your approval”. This confidence helps to build meaningful friendships and curb the bullying. It’s important to remember that we teach others how to treat us. Our silence simply condones bad behavior, therefore it is no longer an option.

There’s an original documentary in the pipeline, as well as an official launch celebration concert, the Friend Movement Benefit Concert, scheduled for July 1 in Los Angeles.

“If you support our grass roots movement, then please consider changing your middle name on Facebook & Twitter to, “FRIEND”, and consider making a tax-deductible donation.”http://www.friendmovement.com/donate.html

We need more more NOH8-type, FckH8-type trendy ad campaigns passed off as a charity or nonprofit so celebrities have more PR opportunities, riiiight?

Meanwhile, a great disparity remains between what most LGBTs in small/rural/suburb areas have access to regarding support and health resource access compared to the what’s available in the big city areas with LGBT centers.

I’m all for The Friend Movement and I support Ronnie 100%, I just find it interesting that someone like LeAnn Rimes who has said some extremely nasty, negative, almost bully-like things in regards to Brandi Glanville, and then someone like Gretchen Rossi who is without a doubt the most childish and biggest bully of RHOC are chosen as spokespeople for this cause. They are certainly not known for being extremely supportive of their “friends” on, or off, the air.

Jun 4, 2013 at 5:10 pm · @Reply ·

Spike

Isn’t flipping the finger a 4th grade thing?

I’m guessing Reichen and Dan Choi are speed dialing do get their pic taken for this . . . lame promotion.

Jun 4, 2013 at 5:21 pm · @Reply ·

Dev

I love Ronnie, but I don’t get this campaign. I thought I donated to a movie they were making. Whatever happened to that?

And I’m so tired of Fuck Cancer and Fuck Hate and flipping the bird. I thought we were trying to reach an audience of kids to educate them. Kids can’t wear Fuck Bully shirts or even promote this in schools.

This is just a waste of time and money.

Am I the only one with the disconnect of the “friend” movement to “fuck bullies?” Tonally?

Jun 4, 2013 at 6:06 pm · @Reply ·

Dixie Rect

These people are celebrities? Who knew? Another stupid campaign that makes zero sense – aren’t children taught not to use the finger? Did that Dan Savage do his pic yet? Epic fail.

@Dixie Rect: Who didn’t know Adam Lambert or Tim Gunn were celebrities? Have a seat, sir.

I love how the response to a campaign against bullying ends up just a bunch of negative griping about how “lame” the effort is, instead of offering a better alternative or any genuinely useful input.

Jun 4, 2013 at 7:25 pm · @Reply ·

John Doe

Cheap marketing, and a bit classless, in my humble opinion. Simply using something that is taboo or insulting (the F word) to gather attention. Wow. Any company or worthy cause can go cheap or insulting to get attention. It will ultimately attract less attention to the specific cause (and how to address and solve it)… and more attention to those doing the promoting.

In comparison – the “NOH8″ campaign has more class and doesn’t come across as cheap or crude. Instead of the focus being on shock and awe… it conveys a very clever and clear message. The simplicity of the photos, the duct tape & the simple message. Theirs is better by far.

As well, at some point we need to address the division in society on these topics. I doubt that overt statements will “win friends and influence people” as they say. Sure, it feels good. Sure, it might be true. But, like coming out to our parents…. we don’t enter the room in hostility towards them and expect flowers in return. If we want change in the hearts of our adversaries then attacks can’t be our only methodology. This is true in all areas of life. If you want a raise… don’t go in and insult the boss. Be diplomatic. You want your neighbor to turn down the noise and be sensitive? Don’t yell. Talk. Well, maybe that is just too old fashioned or hard to understand for some.

Jun 4, 2013 at 7:36 pm · @Reply ·

hephaestion

This campaign troubles me. I love the participants for trying, but I can’t see how this will be effective.

Jun 4, 2013 at 7:43 pm · @Reply ·

balehead

Who are they flipping off?? All the people who tried to bully me in school were all gay…just another “tax ripoff” foundation…

Jun 4, 2013 at 8:44 pm · @Reply ·

Stefan

This campaign makes me want to bully people.

Jun 4, 2013 at 9:27 pm · @Reply ·

Snapper59

Attack of the D-listers. Not one, but TWO “Real Housewives of”.

And Rumor Willis is an “actress”! Who would have thunk it. Her primary roles so far just seem to be turning up at things.

At one point are there too many cooks in the kitchen regarding anti-LGBT bullying groups. Giving the benefit of the doubt that the founders of these organizations are well-intentioned, at some point one still has to wonder why there are so many LGBT youth groups instead of a select, well-run, few?

Think about how much money is wasted by the duplication of expenses like websites, handout materials, staff salaries, and pride event vendor fees. Why don’t these groups merge? Are the main groups unwelcoming to new ideas?

I would think it would be better to focus on the development of LGBT groups in rural, suburb, small town, areas where LGBT centers do not exist to help the LGBTs in need in those regions have access to an in-human support network.

Just can’t help but wonder if there’s a lot of profiting going on in the so-called nonprofit world.

@Snapper59: Like someone once said of Carmen Electra, “she’ll come to the opening of an envelope.”

Jun 5, 2013 at 10:09 am · @Reply ·

Spike

@Snapper59: Excellent point. Funny that these dlisters take themselves so seriously that they actually think their ‘celebrity’ will make a difference, esp the likes of Rumor Willis or the Housewives of . . . Unfortunate that Tim Gunn got involved in this, I thought he had better taste.

@John Doe: I don’t see it as a matter of ‘class’ or poor taste, but being more direct. Speaking as someone who went through bullying in school, the last thing going through my head at the time was “what’s the most polite, delicate, high-brow way I can respond to bullying?”.

Important and worthy observations you’ve made about ” anti-LGBT bullying groups. ”

But maybe we could also say, “the more the better”.

Because they each have a “unique message” that could give them a wider appeal.

Others could be encouraged to “jump in” and hang out their shingle with a great anti-bullying message.

And each group might have a “person of note” associated with them who would have their own personal message to convey.

What’s better, 1 or 2 or 3 big signs or 14 smaller ones ?

Jun 7, 2013 at 4:58 am · @Reply ·

mikro

@jeff4justice: So you think it “better to focus on development of LGBT groups in rural, suburb (sic),etc.” Faces for Change (there is no Foundation in the name) is not acceptable to you because they’re allies? Have you bothered to see their location? La Grande OR (pop 13,000) 97850 Try Google Maps. It’s the county seat of Union County pop 25,000. Can you name & give approx distance to nearest city with pop 100,000 or more? Isolated /rural enough? There is NOT ONE person receiving ANY compensation. The web site facesforchange.com was the work of a Board member/officer. It’s an all volunteer organization with the Board being the bulk of the volunteers. They all have jobs & families, some with school age children & do this in their “FREE TIME”. The intention & announcement of F4C’s formation took place on 2/6/13. How much money do you think they may have raised through donations?

@Billysees: In my experience, large groups can be very unaccommodating to outside voices and people who want to try things differently. I saw that most glaringly working for the NO on 8 campaign. So if one starts a group because an existing group because of being unwelcomed by an existing group that’s understandable.

Let’s look at a bigger context here: My concern that nonprofits are ineffective when duplicating objectives is part of a greater skepticism of the how 501c3 groups in this country are approved. For instance, despite the so-called social safety net programs, all of the faith communities that help the poor, all of the celebs with charities, all of the business that have community service programs, and all of the nonprofits focused on homelessness (like Feed America for example) half of the nation is still in poverty and homelessness is growing. At one point, people have to ask why all these good intentions are so ineffective.

Also, it’s BS that any Tea Party group can attain a 501c3 when they’re so blatantly a front for partisan Republican agenda.

So when I see all of these groups more or less doing the same thing or having very similar objectives, I think it’s fair to ask:
1) When new groups come along, did they even try to work with existing groups?
2) Why don’t this long list of groups try to merge?

Of course, my list does not even take into account local LGBT centers which are more like to exist in larger cities. Nor does the list take into account paid or volunteer anti-bullying speakers.

At a big Pride event like in S.F. or L.A. just look at how many groups are duplicating same objectives – not just on bullying but other issues too. Again, it’s all a duplication of expense.

I think a more effective way to help the LGBT community on multiple issues would be to have a nationwide LGBT group focused on multiple objectives (support, education, community involvement, health, activism) with local chapters – as opposed to what currently exists which is one-size-fits-all directives from mega groups in D.C. or national groups with a limited and therefore exclusionary function.

@mikro: For whatever that group accomplishes, then great! You seem to think my comment is a personal attack towards their intent. It’s not. My critique is about what appears to me to be an over-duplication of nonprofits working to accomplish nearly similar objects and yet do not merge – to more effectively manage resources.

But since you provoked my response to this particular group, in response to your comment to me:

1) Foundation is mentioned on the main page. No big deal – it’s nothing to do with the substance of my original comment.

2) I did not write anything to the effect “is not acceptable to you because they’re allies.” Another failed deflection on your part.

3) There’s nothing obvious/easily identifiable about the location of the group mentioned on the website – but good for you for finding it.

4) How noble of them to volunteer for free. There’s also nothing wrong with nonprofit staff taking some salary – depending on whether it’s modest and reasonable or excessive as happens with many non-profits. And, many people volunteer of their own kind free-will, so…?

5) It’s in a rural area? Great! However the group appears to have a limited-scope purpose with a vague mission statement so it would not appeal to me. Nonetheless, bravo to any good work you’re doing.

6) The economy is bad and if, by your admission, it’s a group in a rural area with a small population, how much money do you think will be raised? And what will it be spent on.

But, I still say, ” DO WHATEVER IT TAKES ” to ” TOUCH AS MANY FOLKS AS POSSIBLE “.

Whether it’s a small effort or a large effort, EACH EFFORT IS IMPORTANT.

The name of this great work is called ” GET OUT THE ANTI-BULLYING MESSAGE “.

Jun 8, 2013 at 3:19 am · @Reply ·

mikro

@jeff4justice: Jeff, you cast aspersions & create a pall over organizations that are trying to do good. All non-profit orgs tax returns are public info so anyone interested can see where money is spent. As for for response my QUESTION of F4C not being acceptable to you was based on their being allies & not LGBT themselves. As for nothing obvious/easily identifiable about their location on the website did you try clicking on the “CONTACT US” tab at the top of EVERY PAGE of their website.
I have no interest in any further discourse with you & won’t even address your other rebuttal type comments. Your sneering “HOW NOBLE” & shows your intent to continue in a negative manner. No one asked if it appealed to you, just as no one asked if giving you a tip ($$$$) on your youtube channel page appealed to me. BTW if you haven’t figured that one out, the answer is it doesn’t.

I hope you’re not a spoke person for any of these groups because if so you’d be the worst PR person since Lisa Williams and the SF Pride/Bradley Manning debacle.

Where’s any data proving any of these organizations are actually effective? And if there is such data, how dare I ask for it riiiiight?

Remember, even a kid who made an It Gets Better video committed suicide from bullying. The tradition with most people these days for any complex problem is to let someone else take care of it while feeling righteous about having done your part by re-posting something on Facebook. People are rightly so empathetic about LGBT oppression that logic goes out the window in evaluating the effectiveness of good intentions when applied to organization.

But how dare I question the effectiveness of these groups.

Next, again – since you’re choosing to ignore this, one more time, let me be clear – I never stated an LGBT serving group was not good enough because it is created by heterosexuals. I never stated that at all. Your mischaracterization of my words is lowly of you.

Next, nonprofits really only have to report 990 forms which can be vague. This is why many people are now starting to ask “where’s the money going and where’s the proof” regarding NOH8.

Anyway, don’t get distracted by me. Back to saving the world with you.